MANCHESTER — PSNH crews worked through the night and around a line of thunderstorms to help restore power to 70,000 customers in the past 24 hours. As of 8:30 a.m., an estimated 56,000 PSNH customers remained without power, compared to 137,000 at the height of Hurricane Sandy on Monday.

"The night crews made great progress, and we are well-positioned to pick up a great many more customers today," says PSNH customer operations manager Dave Bickford.

Restoration efforts will be bolstered by 75 two-man crews arriving today from Hydro Québec, accelerating what has been projected to be a multi-day restoration effort. Several will be dispersed to the Lancaster and Pittsburg area, and the remainder to the hard-hit southern part of the state. The Canadian team will join about 290 PSNH and independent line working and tree trimming crews - each two man crews - who are already in the field. In addition, more than 100 service personnel are working to speed up the process of safely reattaching damaged service wires to homes.

The greatest percentage of customers still without power is in communities along and near the southern I-93 corridor, and westerly to greater Keene and north of Rochester. Crews reported numerous trees down, and spent much of Tuesday assisting municipal workers in the safe clearing of roadways. A comprehensive assessment of damage and the work to be done was undertaken during the day, in order to plan how to most effectively make repairs and restore power to all customers.

PSNH Community liaisons are in frequent contact with designated points-of-contact in each town, and are providing answers to questions regarding the restoration effort. While detailed restoration times are not yet available, we understand how hard it is to be without power, and we will continue to work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to all customers.

Hurricane Sandy's impact has resulted in the fourth highest number of customers without power in PSNH's 86-year history, with the five largest storms all having occurred in the past four and a half years. Overall, Sandy has affected more than 8 million people from Maryland to Maine.

Safety Reminders - While the restoration effort is underway, PSNH is urging customers to use extra caution around downed wires and tree limbs, and when using a generator:

Customers should never touch a downed wire, and assume any downed line is live and dangerous. Downed lines should be reported to PSNH immediately at 1-800-662-7764.

Customers using generators should make sure they are installed correctly-for their own safety, as well as that of line workers. A generator should only be attached to the house wiring and completely isolated from the utility supply. Without proper isolation, power that is being generated through the home could also feed into the PSNH electrical system, causing an unsafe situation for both line workers and neighbors. Please take care when installing a portable generator. For more generator safety tips, visit http://www.psnh.com/stormsafety/.

PSNH's call center is fully staffed and fielding customer calls. If a customer loses power, it is important they report their outage once to PSNH. Customers can report outages by calling 1-800-662-7764 or through www.psnh.com. Opportunities for the media to observe the call center in action may be available. Interested media should contact PSNH Media Relations for more information.

Staying Informed - During major power restoration efforts, PSNH uses a variety of communication tools to keep the public informed. Customers can follow PSNH on Twitter @psnh or on Facebook for real time updates. PSNH also uses a news blog, www.psnhnews.com, to post press releases, outage updates, and other important storm related information. Customers can also access PSNH's outage map to see up to date outage information about their community.PSNH is New Hampshire's largest electric utility, serving more than 500,000 homes and businesses in 211 cities and towns. PSNH is a Northeast Utilities company (NYSE:NU). For more information, please visit psnh.com and follow us on Twitter @psnh